4th
SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5,
8-11, 16
Romans 16:25-27
Luke1: 26-38
"I am the servant of the Lord,
let it be done to me as you have said.”
Christmas is just around the corner. Today, we are
already in the fourth Sunday of Advent, the last Sunday before Christmas day.
And as we set ourselves for final Christmas preparations, our liturgy invites
us to focus our reflections on the star of today's gospel: Mary.
If we recall, at the first Sunday of Advent we
learned that when God comes into our lives, it will always be & moment
of grace. That is why we not only need to be watchful but we also have to
prepare and be prepared. So, as we see, the gospels of the past second and
third Sundays talked about preparation. And we meditated on the person
and message of John the Baptist as a model of it. Today, let us try to focus on
Mary and learn from her, her remarkable virtue when that big moment of grace
came into her life.
1. "Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is
with you." This is angel's greeting at the annunciation. This
annunciation narrative has similarities with other annunciation stories in the
bible (cf Gen 17:15-27 Jgs 13:1-25; 1 Sam 1:1-28; Lk 1:4-25). But Mary's case is quite different and much nobler. The
angel's greeting to her is no mere salutation,
but a vocation. It is a call. And Mary is called to be the daughter of
Zion (which again traces its roots in the Old Testament, cf Zeph 3:14-15; Zech
9:9; Joel 2:21). So, we see that the unfolding of this advent mystery is taking
place little by little in Mary. While it is true that the immediate
preparations are made in and by the person of the Baptist, it is also true that
the "real action" starts with the person of the virgin.
The moment of grace in the life of Mary starts
with the annunciation. (Of course, we must not forget that her being full of
grace starts even before, i.e., when she herself was immaculately conceived
by her mother Anne.) But what we mean here is that moment of grace
wherein Mary herself becomes an active participant in the salvific plan of God.
Indeed, call it a moment of grace precisely because God comes into her life at
a moment when Mary is capable of either receiving or rejecting such invitation,
such call and such commission of God to be the Mother of his son. And as we
see, Mary is portrayed as an able respondent to the will of God.
2. "How can this be if I am a virgin?” As
an active respondent and participant, Mary's initial response comes from her
honest assessment of human situation and experience. She is right to be in
great trouble since she has no relations with any man. Her innocence does not
and cannot deceive her. She is a virgin. And by all human estimates, the
angel’s message is just impossible. But of course, God understands lowly Mary.
So, the Divine reveals the mystery of the Incarnation. Through his angels, God
now tells his advent story to Mary. And as the divine God relates
himself with the human Mary, we further discover the greatness of his divinity.
a. Mary’s experience of “advent” is first
and foremost a divine choice. “Do not fear, Mary.
You have found favor with God."
From the abundance of God's creation, it is upon Mary - and Mary alone – that
the singular role of divine motherhood is given. She has found favor with God
because God has chosen her. Thus, if ever Mary becomes full of grace and
is the most blessed among women, it is because God in his love and mercy
has stooped upon his lowly servant. Mary herself acknowledges this when, before
Elizabeth, she would echo her immortal Magnificat (cf Lk
1:46-55).
b. Mary's experience of "advent" is
a real encounter of God’s love. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the
power of the Most high will overshadow you; therefore, the holy child to be
born shall be called Son of God.” As early as the annunciation event God unveils himself before
Mary, as if he lays bare the Trinitarian nature of his divinity. No greater
love can perhaps compare this great unfolding. It is, as if God already gives
everything he has for the sake of his beloved, for the sake of his favored one.
Thus, even at this early stage, even perhaps at the state of great trouble and
lack of understanding on the part of Mary, Mary must have surely felt the
magnanimity of God's love. It is the Trinitarian God becoming present in her.
It is God making a dwelling in virgin’s heart. Before these glorious favors,
how can an innocent virgin refuse?
3. "I
am the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” This is Mary's final answer. It is an answer
that opens a new horizon to the whole of creation. If the incarnation stands as
God’s greatest gift to mankind, Mary’s acceptance to the solitary role of
divine motherhood stands as mankind's greatest response to God's love. Mary’s fiat
did not disappoint God nor alter the divine plan even in its slightest sense.
On the contrary, her fiat signals the realization of God's salvific
design and at the same time marks the fulfillment of man's longing for
redemption.
Mary's fiat is, therefore, doubly
significant: personally and socially. Personally, since it bespeaks of the
person of Mary as the innocent, humble and obedient virgin. Amidst a troubled
mind, Mary submits her total self to God. And by that submission, Mary’s "advent
experience,” at its personal level, practically reaches its highest peak.
Socially, since Mary’s fiat makes the advent experience an
experience of all. By accepting this maternal role, Mary becomes the New Eve
who stands in behalf of all the elect. Thus, advent becomes not only a
personal experience of Mary but also an experience of the whole of humanity, an
experience, which the whole of creation must treasure.
4. Truly, when God comes into our lives, it
will always be "advent experience." And whether expectedly or
unexpectedly, pleasantly or unpleasantly, it will always be an opportunity for
a real moment of grace. Mary's experience must remind us that not all the time
does God come to us just the way we want him to. Things, events
situations and circumstances may be difficult to understand, and perhaps may not
be understandable at all for the moment why they come the way they do. But even
in their difficult and seemingly incomprehensible nature, the love of God is
there waiting for our own "fiats "to turn these ugly
situations into real moments of grace.